From: "Grand Trunk"
Subject: Angola - A Review
Angola
By Brad Fallon
January 28, 2000
GAME_____________Angola
PUBLISHER________Gameshop
DESIGNER_________James Rosinus
YEAR_____________1979
SCALE____________Operational (1 hex = 25 miles)
TOPIC____________Angolan Civil War (Oct.1, 1975 - Feb.19, 1976)
GAME LENGTH______20 Turns (4-5 hours playing)
MAP______________Angola + Neighbours - 29"x22" - 3 colours
COUNTERS_________140
TIME_____________Each turn is 1 week.
SEQUENCE_________Each player has his own Player-Turn
Often times, obscure topics in wargames get covered by a half-hearted
effort that tends to disappoint very deeply for the true fan of a particular
era. I am happy to state that ANGOLA is not one of those cases. This is a
terrific little game that has actually made some inovations that I had never
seen before.
Most Angolan units have a 3-4 hex movement range, half if it is out of
supply. The allies (South Africa, Cuba, Zaire etc.) do have some units that
can move up to 8 hexes. Contact between forces is made via the ole ZOC - 6
hexes (not across rivers though). You can move into a ZOC and move between
enemy ZOC only by going through a neutral hex first. The same goes for
retreats so get 3 well placed units around the enemy and you have a great
chance of eleiminating him. This is important because the Combat Results
Table is very tame. There are no die roll modifiers and the ratio is
figured simply by subtracting the enemy defense number from the friendly
atttack factor. You have 0 to +5. You cannot attack below 0 (1-1 odds
essentially). All results are Defender Retreat except on the +4 where there
is a 1-6 chance of Defender Eliminated and +5 where there is a 1-3 chance.
Most time you are just pushing the enemy back 1 hex at a time and then
advancing into it. Not much unlike some WWI games.
This is where it gets interesting though. Each unit can attack as many
times as you want, assuming that you have the supply counters to do it.
Supply Lines are very short - 2 movement points. But if you have 4 supply
units stationed in an area for an offensive, you can attack 4 times into
that area. This can make some gaping holes in the enemies defense. Of
course, as you infiltrate their lines, then you can start outflanking and
thus actually eliminating units. The secret is that you must really plan an
attack properly or else you will out run your supply unit. Each time you
attack, you lose that supply unit. Supply units can only move on roads,
tracks and railways so many areas of Angola are quite simply impossible to
attack.
For the rebel forces (FNLA and UNITA) supply appears first in one of
your allied neighbour's area. Next turn you can move the supply unit,
usually by an airlift. Then it can take 1-2 turns to get the supply unit to
the front. The FNLA is very fortunate in the beginning because both of
their airfields are very close to where the initial action is going to take
place, so they get into the fray quickly. UNITA on the other hand, takes a
few turns in the beginning to get the supply in place. For the MPLA, supply
shows up in both Luanda and Brazzaville so they have a few supply units for
use early in the game. Combat units move before supply units move in the
Turn Sequence. Combat takes place after the supply movement. So planning
is necessary here. You can of course save up supply for some major
offensives but as it is useless in defence, any big pile of supply units is
bound to attract the attention of you enemy. The availability of supply is
also important. It has already been predetermined and is listed on the
Reinforcement Chart. From turns 11 to 20, the FNLA get on average 1
unit/turn, the UNITA 2/turn and the MPLA 4/turn. This makes the FNLA very
weak during the last half of the game, regardless on how well they did in
the first half.
There is no stacking of combat units (rocket launchers and air support
the exception), so things can get a bit spread out. You must clip the
corners of the counters (be smart - do it before your opponent arrives -
mine was not impressed :-(. There is a little chrome here that fits in
very nicely. As a rule, there is no unit designation on the counters other
than battalion, regiment etc. Most units are infantry, although there is
some armour and other units. There is an FLEC unit which is fighting for
the freedom of Cabinda, an enclave, once known as Portuguese Congo. It is
completely cut-off from Angola by Zaire. There is also the Daniel Chipenda
unit which is very strong but takes a while to get into combat.
The Reinforcement chart is for the introduction of allies, and for each
players supply units. You can lose your allies. This is what happened to
me in my game. If you lose your Political or Military HQ's, your allies
leave you - high and dry I might add. You also have the option of
proclaiming a Guerilla Movement. This is another way of losing your ally,
but it is a method of maintaining some presence once you have been beat up
really badly. Essentially, when you proclaim a guerrilla Movement, you no
longer use the supply counters as you are always in supply. But each unit
only attacks as a factor 1, and you can never attack more than once in a
turn. You no longer occupy towns and work on a different set of Victory
Conditions. In the case of my game, which I have written up as a replay, if
there had been a third player, one playing the FNLA and one playing the
UNITA forces, I would have proclaimed a Guerrilla Movement. There is no
going back to conventional war once you have made the proclamation though.
You only get victory points for cutting the enemies Line of Communication,
the Benguela Railway, and for destroying enemy supply units. Not much good
in a 2 person game but you could still be the spoiler in a 3 person game.
Normal victory conditions are based on the control of towns. There are also
points for having the Sole Capital, controlling all of the Benguela Railway
and of course, having your Government HQ unit in Luanda.
This game is perfect for those of us who love those 'dirty little
wars'. I feel that historically, the game is very accurate. I like the low
unit elimination because half of the time spent by the faction leaders was
drumming up new recruits for the army. There is enough depth here, to offer
many different combinations of strategic and tactical options, so this game
is definately one that can be replayed. This game works well as a 2 player
game but would be fantastic as a three player game. No reason why the FNLA
would not team up with the MPLA if UNITA took Luanda so there are many, many
possiblities here. In conclusion, this is a game that I will come back to
again. There are only 8 pages of rules and the rule book is only half size.
Generally the rules are well written and almost errata free. I do have
some questions regarding the invasion of Cabinda and I think that there
should be a bridge across the Congo River at Matadi. Next time I play I
will write up an Unofficial Errata. If anyone pulls there copy off the
shelf, let me know what you think. As always, thank you for reading.
All the best,
Brad Fallon
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